The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Copper-Clad World, by Harl Vincent

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Title: The Copper-Clad World

Author: Harl Vincent

Release Date: May 19, 2009 [EBook #28883]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE COPPER-CLAD WORLD ***

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Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Astounding Stories,
September, 1931. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.

The Copper-Clad World

A COMPLETE NOVELETTE

_By Harl Vincent_

[Sidenote: Blaine comes out of the hypnosis of the pink gas to find
himself deep within Io, the copper-clad second satellite of Jupiter.]

CHAPTER I

_Into the Unknown_

Adrift in space! Blaine Carson worked frantically at the controls, his
jaw set in grim lines and his eyes narrowed to anxious slits as he
peered into the diamond-studded ebon of the heavens. A million miles
astern he knew the red disk of the planet Mars was receding rapidly
into the blackness. And the RX8 was streaking into the outer void at a
terrific pace--out of control.

Something had warned him when they left Earth; the Martian cargo of
k-metal was of enormous value and a direct invitation to piracy. Of
course there was the attempt at secrecy and the shippers had sent along
those guards. His engineer, Tom Farley, was thoroughly reliable, too.
But this failure of the control rocket-tubes, missing their destination
as a result--there was something queer about it.

"Tommy," he called into the mike. "Find anything yet?"

"We-e-ll, something," the audio-phone drawled after a moment: "I'm
coming up."

"What is it, Tom?" he asked when the engineer's round face appeared at
the head of the engine room companionway.

Farley dropped his voice and his customary smile was gone. "I found the
stern rocket-tube ignition jammed so it's firing continuously," he
said; "and the others are all dead: won't fire at all. That's why she
doesn't swing to the controls?"

"Can't you fix it? Lord, man, we're headed out into the belt of
pl